Sodium is an essential mineral for human life. However, consuming too much sodium can cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, osteoporosis, cancer, gastritis, and kidney disease.
In the past, salt was a hard-to-find ingredient. However, nowadays, we consume salt as part of our daily lives, and sometimes we accidentally consume too much. This may be because salt is a widely used seasoning in Thai cooking. ยูฟ่าเบท http://ufabet999.app Which has led to an alarmingly high sodium consumption in Thailand.
There are also many Thais who enjoy eating processed foods that make the fast-paced lifestyle of city people more convenient. Thais tend to eat food at restaurants that use a lot of salt. And it seems that this trend of consuming more salt than necessary shows no signs of slowing down.
Campaign to reduce salt, reduce saltiness
As you can see, getting people to reduce their sodium intake is a huge challenge, as salt is a common ingredient in savory and pickled foods. As well as popular sauces and condiments such as oyster sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce. The high sodium content of a meal is a result of additional seasonings both at the table and during cooking.
Despite ongoing campaigns nationwide to reduce sodium consumption, high blood pressure remains a top public health problem. In 2013, approximately four million Thais were diagnosed with high blood pressure, and this number rose to six million in 2018. Thais consume an average of 10.8 grams of salt per day (more than 4,000 milligrams of sodium). Which is more than twice the recommended daily salt intake.
Premature death rates from noncommunicable diseases, heart disease and stroke have been steadily increasing. To address this, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a roadmap with the goal of reducing global sodium consumption by 30% by 2025. Reducing salt consumption to less than 5 grams per day (about a teaspoon) could save around 2.5 million lives worldwide each year, and is a valuable measure that countries can take to improve the health of their populations .
Governments around the world have made efforts to reduce sodium consumption through a variety of initiatives, including reformulation of certain food products, changes to food labels, and media campaigns. In Thailand, the Ministry of Public Health has announced the Salt and Sodium Reduction Policy for 2016-2025, an action plan focused on increasing labeling, legislative reformulation, and conducting research to promote the production and consumption of foods with reduced sodium content.